What Makes Me Excited to Start Phase I of Design Thinking? Talking to People I Already Know
Listening is the first step when approaching my community of choice — Bronx minority families affected by autism — and throughout this process, I wish to be honest and intentional about who I am and how I can use engagement journalism to address the problems facing this demographic.
Rewind: I briefly describe my personal and journalistic connection to autism in my first Medium post, where I claim to be part of the community and an outsider as well.
“Showing up” is a crucial part of the process and I do not want to overlook anything (think: first impressions always count). In my cohort’s Intro to Listening class which took place during our second week in the Social Journalism program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, I asked media developer Jesse Hardman how he presented himself when talking to residents of New Orleans residents while getting an initiative called The Listening Post off the ground there. “I showed up at basketball games with a clipboard survey and my hat on backward,” he said, perhaps noting this detail to draw attention to the personality and demeanor he wanted to convey when in dialogue with community residents. After all, Hardman in this Medium write up called listening a disarming act.
Using Appropriate Language When Introducing Yourself, If There’s Even Such a Thing
As a newcomer to engagement journalism that’s sees great value in interacting with the public during the pre-production phase of reporting, I want to present myself as personable and intrigued with everyone I meet. So how do I translate that in my language?
Well how I introduce myself may come easier overtime with a little practice but something of this variation: “Hi, my name’s Ariam and I’m a sibling. I don’t know everything about the lives of everyone in our community but I’m willing to learn” might be a good place to start. And when it’s time to start the process my first strategy for meeting community members is by tapping into my rolodex and going to places where they already are.
“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African Proverb
sibsNY
Other siblings and I meet every second Monday in a midtown Manhattan location to talk about our lives (and how it intertwines with our sibling(s)) for roughly 90 minutes. When I first joined I knew I was around people who get it. I found the support group last year on a Meetup page and quickly learned that the group is part of a larger network of sibling support groups across the country known as the Sibling Leadership Network. Some of the conversations I hear in this confidential, judgment-free space include communication hurdles with our loved ones, managing or having a say in our siblings’ lives, and being able to witness the small joys and big breakthroughs in our sibling/families over the last 30 days. Announcing my social journalism project to other siblings — whom of the majority that attend don’t fit the demographic I’m looking for — will be an enriching and humbling experience.
Daniel’s Community
Inspiration takes many forms and I always believe there’s room for the “gathering inspiration” component in phase 1 of the Design Thinking process to bleed in all five stages. Frankly, I knew I’d be enrolled in the CUNY Social Journalism Program before receiving acceptance late last year and began to collect names of families, professionals and agencies that are critical to my brother’s and other individuals with developmental disabilities living in New York City in a spreadsheet titled “Daniel’s Community”. The agency in charge of shaping my brother and other participants’ person-centered plans in their day habilitation program can be found in the third column. The names of families I know in the Bronx are in column one. The document contains names of 19 families of color, 21 advocates/professionals and 11 organizations that are active and mostly nonprofit.
Note: Developmental disabilities in some circles can be a delicate and sensitive topic to discuss so in order to respect and protect the privacy of families I have chosen to exclude adding a link to this very important spreadsheet in this Medium post.
https://www.bronxcare.org/fileadmin/SiteFiles/_processed_/csm_2009_ChildrensWing_f70a3c5ea1.jpg

Workshops
Various city agencies including INCLUDEnyc or Sinergia serve families living in NYC’s five boroughs. INCLUDEnyc is a nonprofit I learned more about earlier this year while volunteering at its annual summer fair. (I also contributed a short blog post on its website which I invite you to take two minutes to read.) The organization which has been around for 35 years thrives in its educational programming and personalized advocacy work with families. An example is a discussion I went to that was led by an INCLUDEnyc employee and parent educator about managing self-care as a caregiver. The workshop was hosted at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center as apart of its regular monthly autism support series and the crowd — comprised of mostly mothers — gave anecdotal detail, asked questions, took notes, and filled out a feedback survey at the end of the 40-minute workshop. Revisiting this place and talking to people I meet is a great way to double my network and be more in tune with the needs of other families.
If you have suggestions or know any organizations that support the work of families caring for individuals with developmental disabilities, leave a comment below or write me: ariam.alula@journalism.cuny.edu
